Here you can find links for rare albums of prog, psych, folk and classic rock I love and I want you to discover.
But if you share my tastes for these wonderful gems, I ask you to buy the original ones.

Monday, 21 April 2008

Monday, March 31, 2008

There is always a little story behind every record posted here, so bear with me!I bought this album in 1998 at Leeds. I found it in a small shop that had opened very close to my house. The shop was at Brudenell Road, Hyde Park and it used to sell every kind of second hand stuff such as flares and retro gadgets in general, as part of the sixties/seventies revival that had taken over England as a trend in those days. The owners were very polite but they hadn't a clue about rare records!!! The price of this album was 2 quid (we are talking about original pressing gatefold vinyl with lyrics included)!!! I grabbed it immediately (I had been looking for it for a while) and I also bought a couple of other original vinyls at ridiculous prices (Golden Earring's "Moontan" and Amon Duul II's "Dance Of The Lemmings" were among them).

The Crystal Mansion were a band signed to Rare Earth Records (a subsidiary of Motown) and they were one of the numerous "white soul-funk" bands of the label. Their music is kinda anodyne and, to be honest with you, I was a little bit disappointed by the album, since I expected it to be funkier. Nevertheless, it contained some nice tracks such as the real funky "Somebody (Outta Turn Your Head Around)" and "Let Me Get Straight Again". The latter was a funky anti-drug confession of a fucked-up pothead. I used to play that track every day, for quite a while. It was somehow connected to my life and thoughts at the time.

Unfortunately, most tracks are rather prosaic and they lack energy (...mind you, my tastes are a bit eclectic) but I am sure that some of you will consider it an interesting album. It is fairly rare to find (especially on vinyl) but if you dig, you should go and buy the CD reissue.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

The husband-and-wife duo of Gay and Terry Woods got their beginning in 1969, when Terry Woods was still a member of Sweeney's Men. At that point, negotiations were underway for Sweeney's Men plus Gay Woods to join Fairport Convention bassist Ashley Hutchings in a new band, to be called Steeleye Span. When Sweeney's Men members Irvine and Moynihan decided it wasn't what they wanted, another duo, England's Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, went in with Woods and Hutchings. The Woods lasted for just one album before striking out on their own as the Woods Band, releasing an eponymous debut in 1971, where they mixed traditional and original material. After touring extensively throughout Europe, the band fell apart and Gay and Terry returned to Ireland. Settled again, they signed with Polydor, for whom they recorded Backwoods in 1975. Composed mostly of original material just as their subsequent releases would be, they became more experimental on their two 1976 records, The Time Is Right and Renowned. Given their small niche, that proved to be the end of their major-label association and their final album together, Tenderhooks, appeared on the tiny Mulligan label out of Dublin, an Irish folky roots rock swansong (selections from their final two years can be found on Gay and Terry Woods in Concert). At that point, Gay joined prog band Auto Da Fe and Terry Woods briefly revived the Woods Band before abandoning music for a few years. He resurfaced in 1986 as a member of the Pogues, whose music was a direct descendent of his work with Sweeney's Men. Though Gay Woods, too, retired from music, she did emerge into the spotlight again in the late '90s, rejoining Steeleye Span and becoming their sole vocalist after the departure of Maddy Prior. [Allmusic.com]

Gee's real debut LP is also the first release on the Tumbleweed label, and a fine start for both. Upscale, intricate production typical of the label with Arthur's atmospheric voice given an appropriate context that involves a full folkrock setting plus bells, violin, even jew's harp. Opens on a strong psych vibe, then goes through various chameleon tricks including outlaw country, Tim Hardin folk, and some obvious Dylan "Blonde On Blonde" moves. It's all quite appealing and held together by the expensive, elaborate arrangements. The LP has obvious 60s remnants and is less singer/songwriter than most Tumbleweeds. Two tracks from the Two:Dot demo LP appear in more elaborate versions, although I prefer the sparser 1969 sound of "Meditations". Easy to find and well worth checking out. Gee's second LP for Tumbleweed ("City Cowboy", 1972) is inferior in a countryrock direction. [PL]

Tracks

1 Dimensions + Plain Talk

2 Cotton Suede

3 Love Song 451 + A.L.F.A.L.F.A.

4 Country Fable + Waterweight + Love Song 450

5 Confessions + Dawn of Time

All info and photo from acid archives.

Hope i am correct and not confusing this album with dawn of time or city cowboy.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Ray Conniff. Yes! With this guy, you got it all: massive horn arrangements, space age pop attitude, light 'n dreamy vocals, musical, theatre and jazz, jazz, jazz!Here is a really nice 45 from the man and his orchestra, with four quality tracks. I ripped it on a bad day but it made me feel better! Simply great music from another time.

I will actually let the liner notes to do the talking (click to enlarge) :

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Get ready for a real treat. This brilliant vinyl (which I bought quite a few years ago but managed to listen to relatively recently) contains three tracks of original Indian music performed by the ...appropriately named India National Sitar Ensemble. Two of them form a suite that contains numerous different themes (many of them are really complicated and beautifully arranged) and the third one is a great Meditational Raga, ready to transport you to another planet! All thanks to the obscure Everest Records (can any of you provide any information on this label?) who presented us with this extraordinary album.

The vinyl is Out Of Print and I am pretty sure that there has been no reissue of it on CD. Anyway, we are talking about great music here, people. Don't miss it and don't be intimidated by the style of the recording (it's quite old, you see). And, if you stumble upon the original vinyl, do yourself a favour and buy it.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Short lived trio, this being their sole album. Originally released by the famous New Zealand Zodiac label in 1972 for a very brief time. Featuring the phenomenal guitar work of Harvey Mann, who's only peer back in the day in N.Z was the Human Instinct's Billy T.K.

This 1972 recording is a peculiar release in that it is an alternate version of anincredibly rare LP released on Zodiac in New Zealand. While the original version may remain in obscurity, this alternate take is certainly as high standard acid rock as the infamous original LP. Spacefarm were a Hendrix-inspired psychedelic rock group lead by pyrotechnic guitarist Harvey Mann, who is often compared to fellow New Zealand post-Jimi Hendrix guitar legends Billy T.K. and Jesse Harper. Fans of the heavy psychedelic rock sound of the Human Instinct need look no further than Spacefarm to add to the compendium of obscure New Zealand psychedelic rock — the small but brilliant output of this group is clear evidence as to why these obscure LPs are so sought after in collector circles. Think Cream, Hendrix Expeience, and Blue Cheer and you're getting close to the guitar overload Harvey Mann summons up on this LP. Audiophiles take note that Little Wing released this on vinyl only.

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

The Driving Stupid released just one single, "The Reality of (Air) Fried Borsk"/"Horror Asparagus Stories," which came out on the KR label and flopped in 1966. The band eventually attracted a notoriety way out of proportion to their accomplishments, however, when both songs were anthologized on the '60s garage rock compilation Pebbles Vol. 3 about 15 years later. The tracks are considered to be the apogee of stupid psychedelic garage rock, with their over-the-top juvenile absurd comedy. Some listeners would subscribe to the "it's-so-stupid-it's-brilliant" school; many would find the single unbearably amateurish and dumb. But of such things reputations are made, if only cult ones.

The Driving Stupid were formed on the East Coast by college students, three of them longtime friends from New Jersey. As more of a lark than a serious endeavor, in the summer of 1966 they drove from New Jersey to Hollywood in an effort to crack the big time, stopping off in Albuquerque, New Mexico to record some demos. They did manage to land a deal and record an album's worth of material in Hollywood, but the album didn't come out at the time, after the commercial death of the 45. This unreleased material, like the single, combined sloppy garage band rock with self-consciously silly lyrics, like a garage group providing the soundtrack for a Z-grade horror-science fiction film.

Most of the Driving Stupid left Hollywood at the end of the summer of 1966 to return to college. The single, plus 17 unreleased tracks from their 1966 adventures, were issued in 2002 by Sundazed on Horror Asparagus Stories.

The excavation of an entire album's worth of unreleased material by the Driving Stupid must have excited some die-hard garage-heads, though the result proved to be somewhat less thrilling than might have been imagined. The exact sources of each specific track are undocumented, but they're taken from their 1966 demos in New Mexico and the unreleased album they did in Hollywood the same year. Both sides of the "Horror Asparagus Stories"/"The Reality of (Air) Fried Borsk" single are included as well, naturally. But the reality of the Driving Stupid is that this particular brand of horror/science fiction/comedy rock isn't too funny or clever. Imagine a bunch of teenagers who barely know their way around their instruments, fueled by a steady diet of surf rock, Mad magazine, and monster and outer-space films, half-improvising songs in their suburban basement. That's what this sounds like, and though some might interpret that as a high recommendation, it's not. Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention these guys weren't, though those who get enormous kicks out of kitsch might enjoy songs about postmen putting spiders in mailboxes and the like, backed by the most rudimentary of riffs and over-excited sung-spoken vocals. They did actually try to get "serious" on a couple of occasions with the romantic ballad "How Do You Tell a Stranger?" and the deliberately Lovin' Spoonful-like "Happytime Springface and Flowers," and not memorably so. For those enamored of the "Horror Asparagus Stories"/"The Reality of (Air) Fried Borsk" single (which admittedly did include their best songs), rawer versions of each of those songs are here, along with an interview with lead guitarist Roger Kelley that does much to reveal the mysterious story of the group.

These were an obscure non-professional band who self-produced one album and then disappeared. Interestingly Dorian Gray can be seen as a very early example of a music that was later to be simplified and commercialised by innumerable female vocal fronted 80's new-wave bands. But, it must be said, Dorian Gray were odd! They mixed in a lot of heavy guitar rocking and contrasting spacey folk, male and (mostly) female vocals, all creating a hybrid between the 60's psychedelic trippiness and slightly punky sounds. An interesting album, though hardly worthy of its reputation as a pricey collectable rarity.source : The Crack In The Cosmic Egg

This quintet from Perth County, Ontario was a showcase for three siblings and the vocals of Barb Payne.

Their first hit was 1971's "Uncle Jed" from their Terry Regan produced 'Perth County Green' LP.Their second hit was 1973's "Living Without You" from the album 'Home Cookin' produced by Gary Buck and contained a number of cover tunes including The Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday", Cat Stevens' "Wild World", Gordon Lightfoot's "Redwood Hill", and "Fleetwood Plain" written by Greg Quill, long-time columnist for The Toronto Star. The latter song was the second song off the album.

The group disbanded in the mid-70s.

The Kells and Ross Whitney released an album together in 1981 called Kell High Energy featuring studio sessions done at Waxworks in St. Jacobs, Ontario plus live material from The Blue Moon in Petersburg, Ontario (featuring Gary Halliwell on bass).

In the early '90's Billy Kell released an independent cassette called "Too Old To Quit Now". Billy Kell succumbed to cancer in 1992.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Although he is best known for writing the 1972 Elvis Presley hit, "Burning Love", Dennis Linde has written numerous hit songs for mainlycountry music singers, beginning with hits for Roger Miller and Roy Drusky in 1970. In 1990, Sara Hickman covered his song "Hello, I Am Your Heart" for the compilation album Rubáiyát. In 2000, his song for the Dixie Chicks, "Goodbye Earl", stirred some controversy for its apparently humorous take on spousal abuse. Linde has also written tunes recorded by Tanya Tucker, Gary Morris, Don Williams, the Judds and Garth Brooks.

He was known as one of the more reclusive figures on the Nashville scene, rarely attending industry events. Nashville manager Scott Siman described him as a "mystery man," explaining, "If you ever saw Dennis Linde it was amazing, because you didn't get that opportunity very often.

In 2001, Linde was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.Linde died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on December 22, 2006. He was 63.His daughter, Lisa Linde, is married to actor James Marsden.

Continuing their worldwide tour of record labels, Mushroom's sixth studio album has now appeared on the Aether label out of Indianapolis (run by the folks who perform as Many Bright Things) as a limited edition vinyl-only release. The album is a collection of four (more like five, really) very different instrumental works, totalling (well, pretty obvious really) about 40 minutes. Just like the old days! Again, some lineup shuffling of the ever-evolving group has led to different sounds and styles emerging.

The opening track, "Leni Riefenstahl" (named for a German actress/film maker), is a long, winding mesmerizing affair. Set to a relatively leisurely pace, the steady bassline and drumming are countered by streams of (what I imagine is) heavily-f/X'ed guitar, that comes across like a squadron of aircraft successively strafing your position. The tune reaches its full fruition at about the 8-minute mark when the power chords from Dan Olmstead's guitar stream through, followed then by bits of soloing against a peculiar curtain of rising and falling runs on both flute and synths. Eventually, the tune winds down and morphs directly into "A Violin Bow in Curved Air," initially an experimental piece of kling-klanginess mixed with Erik Pearson's screamin' violin. Somewhere in the middle of the piece, the unsettling sounds resolve into a more pleasant mix of atmospheric sounds... an effective device.

Side B opens with "A Tribute to Eddie Harris," a two-part journey that is more similar to the Mushroom of Analog Hi-Fi Surprise. "Swiss Movement" ebbs and flows over seven minutes, full of individual statements mainly from Olmstead's strangely-tuned and buzzing guitar and Pearson's sax. The combo soldiers on into a downright bluesy affair for the second phase, "Some Jive Ass Wasting My Time," a lazy stroll down to the Mississippi Delta for another five minutes of improvisation, before suddenly switching into a more uptempo jam with a rambling bassline and a swirly guitar 'whine' mixed with some inspired soloing. The LP wraps up with the more ambient "Dig My Mood," essentially a solo electric piano piece by Alison Faith Levy, full of soothing Cluster-like motifs echoed in just the right way to induce a reflective mood. Levy's stylish playing is a welcome new addition to the group.

Mushroom have yet to put out a sub-par work, and this one ranks right up there. The title track was taken from the Analog Hi-Fi recording session, but the bulk of the album is new material with a different intent. Some of the sounds and patterns in the improvisations are recognizable as distinctly 'Mushroom,' but the band always manages to present them in different guises with each successive album, such that they never produce redundant works. Given the limited nature of this release, I recommend promptly tracking it down.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

There you go. A 12inch by Vincent Crane and his pack, promoting the 1983 "Headline News" album. Dave Gilmour is on the guitar, as far as I remember (there are no details on the sleeve, unfortunately). Both tracks ("Land Of Freedom" and "Carnival") are distant, dark and chaotic in places. Nice one.

Furber, born in London in 1948, emigrated along with his family to Australia in the '50s. A chance meeting in 1965 with two members of the fledgling garage band, The Bowery Boys, resulted in Furber joining the group as singer. At this point, the band was definitely a single entity, but when they were spotted by impresario Ivan Dayman and subsequently signed to his burgeoning Sunshine Records label, the emphasis shifted to Furber, who Dayman intended to launch as a solo act. Although Furber had a limited vocal range, Dayman saw his little boy lost teen-girl appeal and so the group became Mike Furber And The Bowery Boys. Just A Poor Boy (the band's first and only album), achieved modest chart success but brought theunwanted attention of the music press. Three more singles followed until, at Dayman's behest, Furber parted company with the highly-talented Bowery Boys to pursue a solo career, which, despite the patronage of Barry Gibb, failed to materialise. In October '67, Furber released wbat many believed to be his finest single, Bring Your Love Back Home, but the record-buying public failed to concur, and the single disappeared without trace, an occurrence which prompted the first of many nervous breakdowns. A single penned by the Easybeats' Harry Vanda followed, along with a few recordings for EMI-Columbia which were never released. And that was almost that. Furber's career stumbled along for a few more years, but following his sacking from the stage musical Nuclear, he lapsed into of this sorry little saga is that The Bowery Boys themselves were an extremely tight and accomplished band which, bad it not been overshadowed by Furber, would undoubtedly have gone on to greater things, as this superb album amplattes. Radio-Active. 2005.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Get ready for some Texas blues, people. Our respect to the late John Fahey and his Takoma label for bringing us exceptional music. The Fabulous Thunderbirds are an electric blues band with Jimmy Vaughan (brother of Stevie Ray) on guitar, Kim Wilson on vocals and harmonica, Keith Ferguson on bass and Mike Buck on drums. Leslie-driven guitars, swamp grooves, snarling harmonicas and bawdy (check "Scratch My Back") blues covers as well as originals, are all in here. Good stuff.

I bought this album back in 1996 for 2 quid from a small record shop at the ground floor of the Corn Exchange building in Leeds. I had bought some 90 lps from there before the shop finally closed down. Shame.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Hookfoot were Elton John's backing band in the seventies featuring the musical minds of Caleb Quaye, Ian Duck, Dave Glover and Roger Pope. They released four albums as a band (as far as I know) and they played a blend of blues and rock, quite often influenced by folk-rock artists of their time. This is their debut album featuring original songs as well as two covers, Stephen Stills' "Bluebird (a major hit for Buffalo Springfield)" and Neil Young's "Don't Let It Bring You Down". Both tracks are given a rockier edge. The album contains a few tracks to keep you interested (always according to my taste), namely the a-fore-mentioned and "Mystic Lady".

I bought this vinyl in 1996 in Leeds and, although it was supposed to be relatively rare, it was only priced for 50p, probably because the worn-out cover made the salesman think that the record was in bad condition too. Lucky bastard I was then!!! If you happen to be a retro freak, a record digger or a purist like me, try to find the original vinyl.

Rip is in 320 kbps. A few clicks and pops are present but nothing really to worry about.

Reviews :1Legendary 1966-67 Bay Area band, whose members would go on to various sorts of fame. Mainly instrumental music of a highly eclectic nature, mixing modal Eastern sounds with impressionist classical and plain old SF acid rock. Embryonic versions of two It's A Beautiful Day numbers can be heard. Somewhat challenging and with below average sound quality, but well worth hearing for purveyors of mid-60s freak sounds and of obvious historical value.[PL]~Acid Archives

2Here is what we would name some of the best, most important, unreleased at the time, historical and lost westcoast psychedelic recordings ever.

This legendary band includes none other that the famed Kenneth Anger soundtrack creator Bobby Beausoleil as well as a very young David LaFlamme, before starting his legendary band “It's A Beautiful Day”.

As for the music, we are talking waaaaayyy out tunes here! This is the missing link between the Drone Avantgarde and the Hippie Scene symbolized by 2 people that couldn't be further apart. The complete B-side features a single long tune which can best be described as Theatre of Eternal Music (the famed Pre-Velvet Underground La Monte Young/ John Cale Drone Band) meets It's A Beautiful Day. On the other side you will find middle eastern influenced hippie psychedelic jams that will remind you of bands like the “BEAT OF THE EARTH”.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Tracks :A1 Concrete Sea (2:20)A2 I'm Gonna Love You Too (2:40)A3 Pumpkin Eater (2:45)A4 Again And Again (2:35)A5 Since You Broke My Heart (2:27)A6 Fire On The Skyline (3:05)B1 The Love Game (2:16)B2 I'm So Lonely Here Today (2:22)B3 It's Been There From The Start (2:16)B4 Sail Away (3:00)B5 Seasons In The Sun (3:28)

It's been a long time since "Seasons in the Sun" became a monster hit for Canadian Terry Jacks, but the syrupy 1974 single is still top dog among all best-sellers issued by Canadian acts. The release spent more than three months on the U.S. charts and more than four months on the charts in Jacks' native country. Its accumulated sales topped more than 11 million copies. Jacks, who moved on to producing for artists such as the Beach Boys, Nana Mouskouri, DOA, and Chilliwack, reaped the good life from the monster hit's royalties, which he acknowledged by naming his power boat Seasons in the Sun. Royalties also spill in from "Which Way You Goin' Billy?". He and former wife Susan Pesklevits recorded the song under the name the Poppy Family in 1969. The release hit number two in the U.S. and topped the Canadian charts, raking in four Juno Awards and selling more than two million copies.~Linda Seida, All Music Guide

Review :With a mere eight songs (six of them covers) and untrained amateurishness pervading the recording techniques, instrumental performances, and singing, The Galaxies is by no means a lost gem. Should you be in that certain mood for slightly kitschy relics of '60s garage band naive sincerity, however, it's a pretty fun listen, if only for the refreshing open-eyed enthusiasm they bring to their bash-it-out covers of "Mellow Yellow," Mose Allison by way of the Yardbirds' "I'm Not Talking," Keith's "Ain't Gonna Lie," Love's "Orange Skies" and "Que Vida," and Nancy Sinatra's "How Does That Grab You Darling." You won't find a weirder Love cover than the Galaxies' "Orange Skies," where Jocelyn Ann Odams — supposedly an American according to the reissue's liner notes — sounds very much like she's singing in English as a third language, or at least as if she can't decide whether to use a British or American accent. Not far behind that for strangeness is a punky "How Does That Grab You Darling," where Odams sing-purrs the spoken interjections with the uncertain intonation of an ESL student. As for the two band originals, "Hey!!!" (all three exclamation points included) actually is a pretty entertaining mismatch of basic Mamas & the Papas/Beatles-like pop with overheated fuzz guitar, while "Linda Lee" is a far more basic early British Invasion-derived rocker with way out of tune guitar.~by Richie Unterberger

Biography :From Sao Paolo, Brazil, the Galaxies issued a rare album on the Brazilian Som Maior label in 1968. Strictly speaking, it might not be correct to call them a Brazilian group: they were based there, but featured an English guitarist-singer (David Charles Odams) and an American singer (Jocelyn Ann Odams, who also played maracas), as well as Brazilian members. Like many '60s rock records cut by bands from non-English-speaking countries, particularly ones from South America, the LP was crudely recorded and performed, and heavy on clumsy covers of American and British rock songs. However, the untutored innocent energy of the eight tracks — including a couple of originals in addition to covers of songs by (or popularized by) Donovan, Love, the Yardbirds, Keith, and Nancy Sinatra — is appealing. Highlights include the reasonably tough fuzz guitar-laden original "Hey!!!" and the weird cover of Love's "Orange Skies," sung in an indefinably Transatlantic accent by Jocelyn Ann Odams. The album was reissued in 2002 in Italy on Misty Lane.~by Richie Unterberger

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Having already mentioned that Gomez are among my favourites, this is an EP they issued back in 2000 with 5 tracks, all wrapped-up in eco-paper decorated with those quasi-impressionist paintings. They once again combine acoustic melodies with great lyrics and scattered sample spells. "Touchin' Up" and "The Dajon Song" are my picks from this EP with the latter being an extended psychedelic blues jam, slow and creepy.

I bought this CD during my last year in Leeds, England (2000-2001) from a nice little record shop called "The Polar Bear", up in the Headingley area. Good 'ole days they were. I wonder if the shop is still there. Anyway, I have been known for my tendency to digress so I'll stop here and will let you enjoy the music. And enjoyable it is, believe me.

The Frantic V were formed in early summer 1994. As they became active they started live performances in front of stunned crowds representing the real garage of Thessalonica. In 1995, Jens Lindberg, of Crimson Shadows, came to visit the boys and on a starless night they recorded properly 2 tracks lost in oblivion. Some e.p.'s were published in and out of Greek border, while wild and fun gigs were the permanent winter agenda for the cold north Greek nights. They have been on the same stage with monster bands like: ? & The Mysterians, The Seeds, The Fuzztones etc. A well-experienced band that offers a non-stop dancing set.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Roy Wood (born Roy Wood, 8 November 1947, Kitts Green, Birmingham, West Midlands, England) - sometimes erroneously thought to be born as Ulysses Adrian Wood, from an offhand interview comment in the 1960s - is a songwriter, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the bands The Move, Electric Light Orchestra and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a number of hits to the repertoire of these groups.

Wood's first group in Birmingham in the early 1960s was Gerry Levene and the Avengers; he moved to Mike Sheridan and the Nightriders (the band later to become The Idle Race, in which Jeff Lynne took his first steps); from this basis, and other Birmingham-based groups, the most talented musicians formed The Move, and Wood became their musical leader. The Move quickly entered the charts and became well-known for spectacular stage shows; their track "Flowers in the Rain" was the first track to be played on Radio 1 when it was launched in 1967.[1]After the departure of The Move's lead singer Carl Wayne, Wood became more prominent, developing an unconventional image for a 'pop group'. Since The Move's members could not agree on musical direction, the potential of the group was diluted. Wood therefore began to develop into other directions.

Wood was keen on musical experimentation and was in this respect one of the most progressive musicians of his time, taking the 'pop group' into new areas. He was an early proponent of combining rock'n'roll and pop music with other styles, such as classical music, or the big band sound, and introduced classically-styled string and brass sections into the pop record. When The Move was still on tour, he founded, together with his band colleagues Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan, the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was later to gain major commercial success by successfully fusing the basis of a rock band with a permanent string section, without losing rock 'n' roll roots.

ELO's early live performances were chaotic, and after increasing tensions, Wood left and formed a new group, Wizzard, which assembled cellists, brass players and a bigger rhythm section, with several drummers and percussionists. Wood emulated the wall of sound production style of Phil Spector whilst successfully, and affectionately, pastiching the rock n roll style of the early 1960s. Meanwhile, he released several solo albums, exploring further musical directions. His 1973 album, Boulders, was an almost entirely solo effort, right down to the sleeve artwork, with Wood playing a wide variety of instruments. A second solo album Mustard (1975), including contributions by Phil Everly and Annie Haslam, was less successful.

The line-up of albums was always fascinating, because of the large number of instruments Wood, and his band members, were playing. Wood himself is mentioned as singer as well as player of guitars, bass guitar, sitar, cello, double bass, saxophones, clarinet, trombone, tuba, recorders, oboe, French horn, banjo, mandolin, bassoon, drums, percussion, vibraphone, bagpipes and keyboards.

Collectively, hit records by The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, Wizzard, and Wood's own solo singles demonstrate an impressive chart run for an individual, both as composer and performer.

By the late 1970s, Wood was appearing less in public; commercial success faded away, and his musical experiments did not always match popular taste, but he remained productive in the studio as musician, producer and songwriter. He was a big Elvis fan, but never succeeded in getting 'The King' to adopt one of his compositions. However, he was untiring as a producer for other acts, most successfully doo-wop revivalists Darts. In 1976, Wood recorded Beatles cover songs "Lovely Rita" and "Polythene Pam" for the ill-fated musical documentary All This and World War II.

In 1977 he formed the Wizzo Band, a jazz-rock ensemble, whose only live performance was a BBC simultaneous TV and radio broadcast in stereo, which split early the following year after cancelling a nationwide tour.

In the early 1980s Wood released a few singles under his own name and also as The Helicopters, and played some live dates under this name. The release of one of these singles, "Aerial Pictures", backed with "Airborne", was cancelled owing to the lack of chart success for its predecessors, but both sides appeared for the first time in 2006 on a compilation CD, Roy Wood - The Wizzard!. "Aerial Pictures", using the original backing track, subsequently became a solo single for former Move vocalist Carl Wayne.

Wood also made a one-off rock'n'roll medley single with Phil Lynott, Chas Hodges and John Coghlan, credited to The Rockers, "We Are The Boys", which made the Top 100 in late 1983, and played a leading role in the Birmingham Heartbeat children's charity concert, on 15 March 1986. As well as designing the logo, Wood stole the show[citation needed] in a line-up which also included the Electric Light Orchestra and the Moody Blues.

After an extended period of hibernation, following the release of the album Starting Up (1987), a cover version of the Len Barry hit "1-2-3", and a guest vocal appearance on one track on Rick Wakeman's Time Machine album, he went on the road with 'Roy Wood's Army'. Rumours of a new live album, and an album of new studio work, provisionally called "Electric Age", did not materialise. He also recorded a two tracks with Jeff Lynne around this time ("If You Can't Get What You Want" and "Me and You"), which likewise have never seen the light of day.

Altogether he had more than 20 singles in the UK Top 40 under various guises, including several number one hits. His most regularly performed and broadcast oldie is the seasonal Wizzard single "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday". In 1995 he released a new live version as the 'Roy Wood Big Band', which charted at No. 59, and in 2000 he joined forces with Mike Batt and The Wombles, for a re-recording of the song and the Wombles' hit "Wombling Merry Christmas", which reached No. 22.

Most recently, he has formed 'Roy Wood's Rock and Roll Band' for occasional live dates and TV performances in the UK.

Fans of Wood are a loyal bunch, and in 2007 a group of them launched the website Release Roy! lobbying Warner Brothers Records to release two of Wood's 1970s albums Super Active Wizzo (now released on Wounded Bird Records), and On The Road Again.

Over Christmas 2007, Wood appeared in a catalogue advert for Argos, where he played the part of a rowdy neighbour playing guitar along to Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", and the song once again entered the UK Top 40 singles chart.Wood was awarded an honorary doctorate for his contribution to music by the University of Derby on the 18 January 2008

Get the expanded and digitally remastered version ( plus more info on his bio and discography) From his site http://www.roywood.co.uk/

You may ask why I'm re-uploading this series...The reason is that "Boulders" series it's compiled by Dave G. (r.i.p.) of Moxie records.It's a bootleg series from the first day, and all the the tracks are for 45's.

In the mid sixties almost every town in the states had a record label who published all these teenager music later known as garage. Most of this labels never had the copyrights for this recordings because most of the artists never make this for profit. It was just music !!!

P.S. Thanks all of you for the welcome back messages.Lost-In-Tyme : Prog - Kraut - Classic Rock - Blues.....It's closed for some time...Don't ask for permission.

Friday, February 01, 2008

I was saving this for posting it on March 21, first day of spring, as it's my second best "spring album" of the past 30 years. If you ask me for my all-time favorite "spring album", the answer is Penelope Houston's Birdboys (I'm not going to post it - you can get it from here - and I'm telling ya Penelope has made an album in the same rank as Tim Buckley's or Tom Rapp's masterpieces - I may post some review of it soon).

After the recent wave of music blogs closing - see Totally Fuzzy (1/16/2008) and my previous posts for more on this - it seems like a severe winter is coming in music sharing, so I decided to post it now as an invocation to the coming of Spring and also to use its title as a call for the music lovers: Sing or die, Share or die, Spread the music you like or die. (I'm sure you understand that I'm not saying that if you don't sing or share you have to die! It's the music that will die if we squeeze it in plastic and labels.)

Back to the album: Courage of Lassie was the band of Ron Nelson and Mady Schenkel, originally from Vancouver, Canada. They first met as art students in the punk band Private School (1978-79) and after their break-up in early 1980, they formed The Singing Cowboys. They released an album as Magic Dragon in 1981, which you can find in Vertigo's site here. In 1982, they formed Courage of Lassie, making music on potential film soundtracks, and around 1984-85 they moved to Montreal and released the "Threshold of Hearing" cassette in 200 copies. In 1986 Lorenz Eppinger's Amok records released their first LP, "The Temptation To Exist" and in 1989 their masterpiece "Sing or Die", which was also released in the USA through C'est La Mort records and in the UK through Third Mind records. "Sing or Die" was very well received in Europe (the older Greek visitors may remember that it was voted as best record of 1989, by the "Sound & Hi-Fi" magazine). They had another release, 1994's excellent "This Side of Heaven"on a major company (you can find a taste of it in Maidens In The Moor Lay) and after that ...nothing. I've searched the web in any combination I could imagine and I haven't found a trace of the band or the two core members. Seems that everything stops in 1994, with the release of their last album and some touring. Did they quit music? I hope not. I was also surprised to discover that this long out of print album, was nowhere to be found in the blogland - except a mention in the above Vertigo post.

This is from Hearsay magazine: Ron Nelson's background, part French and part Native Indian, (blended with Mady Schenkel's Swiss - German heritage) is perhaps what gives the album its truly Canadian, wild, organic feel, literally sounding like crashing waterfalls, huge evergreens, frozen tundra, cross-cultural cities full of underground artistic expression...(Hearsay)

When you listen to this record, I think you'll understand why I called it "Spring album". The nature of Canada is here, the morning dew and the sounds of twilight. You can hear the breeze through the grass and smell the flowers blooming. Yes, the music in "Sing or Die" contains all these and more. Singing in both French and English, Ron Nelson and Mady Schenkel, full of sweet melancholy, recall in mind Leonard Cohen or Tom Rapp (and a little of Joni Mitchell), along with the French trobadours. Yes, there were/are many more artists trying to do this, but the results in most cases are very lame, comparing to this essential folk record. The male/female vocals, the rich acoustic arrangement with the violin and accordion in the same rank as the guitars, catch all the colors and whispers and perfumes and the innocence of their songs. Two poems of James Joyce and Yeats, a cover of Creedence's "Who'll Stop the Rain?" and their unbelievable beautiful own songs compile a record that will haunt you for a long time, like a sweet memory from your past, that you can't really remember, but you like the feeling it creates.

This is the cover from the Amok release (I've scanned it from a magazine) and it's the best of the three - with nice blue/mauve colors. The cover of the record at the top of this post (I believe) is from its uk release. You can see the us cover here. There was no point scanning the covers of my LP, as the white vinyl version of C'Est La Mort release I have, came out in a plain black cover with a sticker with the tracklist. So here's the scan of the vinyl